Neymar: Is he now the best player in the world?

Neymar’s record breaking transfer to Paris St Germain from Barcelona changed football forever.

His purchase cost the club £198 million, which is about the same as buying the whole of Crystal Palace football club.

It was almost £100 million more than the previous transfer record, making him the most expensive player of all time.

Quite predictably, scrutiny has followed his every move since, with PSG’s poor record in the Champions League falling largely on his shoulders in the press.

However, last night, Neymar put in a man of the match performance as his club reached their first Champions League semi-final in a quarter of a century.

So, is it finally time to consider Neymar as the best player in the world? Have your say in the vote below.

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Plus, read on to find out some of the more unusual facts to emerge from PSG’s victory from Atalanta.

Neymar

PSG beat Italian underdogs Atalanta 2-1 thanks to two late goals from Marquinhos and Choupo-Moting.

Neymar played a huge role in both goals and was awarded man of the match following the final whistle.

The 28-year-old also equalled the record for the most dribbles in a Champions League match by dribbling past his opponents 16 times.

In 58 Champions League appearances Neymar has now scored 35 goals and assisted his teammates 27 times.

However, Neymar has never won a major individual award, such as the Ballon d’Or, unlike his rivals Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, who have won it several times.

Choupo Moting

At the end of the 2017/2018 season, Choupo Moting had just been relegated from the English Premier League with Stoke.

Role on two years and he’s just scored the winning goal in a Champions League quarter final.

The 31-year-old came off the bench against Atalanta and scored from a last minute Mbappe cross to take the French champions through.

The Stoke effect

Choupo Moting isn’t the only Stoke player from the 2017/2018 relegated squad to have major Champions League connections.

Football journalist Richard Jolly worked out that there had been at least one player from that squad in almost every Champions League semi-final since 2005.

The players include Glen Johnson – who played for Chelsea in the 2005 semi-final – Darren Fletcher – who played for Manchester United in the 2008 and 2009 finals – and Xherdan Shaqiri who played in both the 2013 and 2019 semi-finals for Bayern Munich and Liverpool.

Atalanta

Atalanta were just minutes away from defying the odds and making it through to their first ever Champions League semi-final.

The minnows are from the Bergamo region of Northern Italy which only has a population of 120,000 people.

In just ten years Atalanta have gone from the Italian second division to the Champions League quarter finals.

They won’t have long to wait for a return to the competition after finishing third in Serie A last season, scoring a division-high 98 goals in the process.